Evangelicals in France

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Evangelical Christianity is booming — in France of all places. On second thought, it is not so surprising, given the spiritual vacuum created by thorough secularization in that country. The Washington Times yesterday carried a brief but noteworthy treatment of the phenomenon.

...even as Christians are fleeing mainstream churches across the region, evangelical Christianity is booming thanks most recently to flourishing migrant churches like Impact Christian.

France alone has witnessed an eightfold increase in evangelical Christians over the past half—century, from 50,000 to 400,000 today.

Those numbers are small in absolute terms. Indeed, evangelicals represent less than 2 percent of the European population. But their influence is growing, as Roman Catholic and traditional Protestant churches increasingly borrow from their hands—on and inclusive doctrine.

Perhaps most significantly, the evangelicals attest that spirituality is not dying out in Europe.

Much more information is needed, ut it appears that African immigrants play a large role in the boom. And there may be problems with so—called "prosperity preachers" who seem to personally profit disproportionally from their religious activities.

Nevertheless, the religious landscape in Europe is not a one—dimensional story of Christian retreat and Muslim advance, and this interesting phenomenon deserves more exploration.

Hat tip: Ed lasky

Thomas Lifson 11 19 06

Evangelical Christianity is booming — in France of all places. On second thought, it is not so surprising, given the spiritual vacuum created by thorough secularization in that country. The Washington Times yesterday carried a brief but noteworthy treatment of the phenomenon.

...even as Christians are fleeing mainstream churches across the region, evangelical Christianity is booming thanks most recently to flourishing migrant churches like Impact Christian.

France alone has witnessed an eightfold increase in evangelical Christians over the past half—century, from 50,000 to 400,000 today.

Those numbers are small in absolute terms. Indeed, evangelicals represent less than 2 percent of the European population. But their influence is growing, as Roman Catholic and traditional Protestant churches increasingly borrow from their hands—on and inclusive doctrine.

Perhaps most significantly, the evangelicals attest that spirituality is not dying out in Europe.

Much more information is needed, ut it appears that African immigrants play a large role in the boom. And there may be problems with so—called "prosperity preachers" who seem to personally profit disproportionally from their religious activities.

Nevertheless, the religious landscape in Europe is not a one—dimensional story of Christian retreat and Muslim advance, and this interesting phenomenon deserves more exploration.